Hamas leaders have warned that a “war of liberation” bigger than the massacre of October 7 is imminent, indicating the terrorist group’s plans for another siege on Israeli civilians.
Osama Hamdan, a Beirut-based senior official of Hamas, made the statement during an interview last week with Lebanese media outlet Bel Moubashar Online, which was then translated from Arabic by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
“I can promise that another war of liberation is coming, not just October 7,” Hamdan said in the interview. When asked by the interviewer if Hamas would do anything differently if given the chance, Hamdan said:
“Why do some people assume we would go back on our acts of resistance?”
He expressed no regret for “shattering an entire division of the occupation army”, by which he likely referred to the 1,200 Israelis, predominantly civilians, who were killed in Israel on Oct. 7.
When the interviewer asked if the “war of liberation” would occur in the foreseeable future, Hamdan said “I do not think it is far off.”
Israelis are still coming to terms with the losses suffered on that day, when Hamas terrorists invaded kibbutzim in the south and massacred a music festival near Re’im. During the recent seven-day ceasefire, which became obsolete on Friday when Hamas began firing rockets an hour before the truce was due to expire, the terrorist group released 105 civilian hostages, leaving some 137 left in Gaza.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.